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Dignity Washington marks 30th anniversary of expulsion from Catholic chapel
‘Like the Israelites wandering in the desert’
St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
The LGBT Catholic organization Dignity Washington held a commemorative ceremony on June 4 to mark the 30th anniversary of the date when the Archdiocese of Washington ordered Georgetown University to stop allowing the group to hold its Sunday Mass at a chapel on the university’s campus.
Dignity officials said the commemoration was for an event on the Catholic Pentecost Sunday in 1987, when Dignity members marched from the Georgetown campus to St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, which became their new home.
“For a decade, Dignity Washington had been celebrating Sunday Mass at St. William’s Chapel on the campus of Georgetown University,” the group said in a statement. “Archbishop James Hickey of Washington, D.C. ordered Rev. James Healy, S.J., the president of Georgetown University, to order Dignity Washington to leave the Catholic facility,” the statement says.
The statement noted that the order followed a 1986 edict from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that said any group that did not accept the condemnation of intimate homosexual relations must be forbidden from using Catholic Church facilities.
The June 4 ceremony, held outside the entrance of St. Margaret’s Church, was conducted jointly by Father Jeff Vomund, who regularly celebrates Mass for Dignity; and Rev. Kym Lucas, Rector of St. Margaret’s Church.
Lucas said she was proud that her predecessors at St. Margaret’s welcomed Dignity members with open arms back in 1987 and that she is honored to continue the church’s role in serving as host to Dignity’s Sunday Mass.
“Thirty years ago today, on the Feast of Pentecost, 1987, the community of Dignity Washington came to the people of St. Margaret’s like the Israelites wandering in the desert – carrying our precious religious symbols, our liturgical banners, and our broken hearts,” Vomund said in a statement.
“This community opened its doors and its hearts to us in our time of need,” he said. “After 30 years of our sharing in this space, we come before you again, knocking that the door might be opened to our continued collaboration in God’s Spirit,” Vomund said.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
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